Protective sleeves or covers are commonly installed on elongate substrates such as power distribution cables as well as other electrical cables. Such sleeves are commonly formed of an electrically insulative, polymeric material. Some known covers of this type are formed of a resilient, elastomeric material. In use, the sleeves are elastically stretched, placed about the substrate, and released, whereupon they recover to a reduced diameter to conform to or seal about the substrate. These sleeves may be referred to as cold-applied covers. It is generally necessary to expand the sleeve to a diameter sufficient to allow the sleeve to be slid onto the substrate. It is known to provide a holdout device or sleeve support in the sleeve to temporarily hold the sleeve in the expanded state. The holdout and the sleeve are slid over the substrate and the holdout is then removed or collapsed to allow the sleeve to contract about the substrate. Known holdouts may suffer from various drawbacks.